Explosions “more than 10 times the energy of the largest US nuclear bomb” and “more than 3 times closer (to Earth) than normal.” New discovery adds credence to my theory that magnetic explosions created the Carolina Bays,possibly even the Chixculub Crater.
Explosions in Earth’s magnetic field “happen all the time,” writes Dr. Tony Phillips. “Gusts of solar wind press against Earth’s magnetosphere, squeezing lines of magnetic force together. The lines criss-cross and reconnect, literally exploding and propelling high energy particles toward Earth. Auroras are the afterglow of this process.
“Usually, these explosions happen at least 100,000 miles from Earth, far downstream in our planet’s magnetic tail,” explains lead author Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA. “On Dec. 20, 2015, however, we observed a reconnection event only 30,000 miles away–more than 3 times closer than normal.”
Angelopoulos estimated the energy involved at “more than 10 times the energy of the largest US nuclear bomb and about 20 times the energy of a magnitude 7 earthquake.”
The blast showed that reconnection events may pose a previously overlooked threat to Earth-orbiting satellites.
NASA’s swarm of three THEMIS spacecraft were able to pinpoint the explosion’s location “right on the doorstep” of the geosynchronous satellite belt.
Before this event, many researchers felt that reconnection at such proximity was impossible. Earth’s nearby magnetic field was too stable for such explosions.
“Now we know better,” says Angelopoulos. “The THEMIS multipoint observations are iron-clad. It really happened.”
The original research, entitled ‘Magnetic Explosions Discovered on Earth’s Doorstep,” was published just this week (13 Jan 2020) in Nature Physics.
Why does this concern me? Because our magnetic field protects us. When I wrote Not by Fire but by Ice, the Earth’s protective magnetic field strength was declining 5 percent per century. Now it is declining 5 percent per decade!
I fear that this decline will allow such explosions to take place ever closer to the Earth. I also fear that this accelerating decline could mean that we are headed for a full-fledged magnetic reversal or excursion.
https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/01/16/magnetic-explosions-discovered-on-earths-doorstep/
Thanks to Laurel for this link
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January 16, 2020 at 04:09PM
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